


Where the Stronghold Lies (Comic oc drabbles and studies)

by sp00kyy_gh00ulzz



Category: Minecraft - Fandom
Genre: Its minecraft comic ocs leave me alone, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-03
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:00:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22997332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sp00kyy_gh00ulzz/pseuds/sp00kyy_gh00ulzz
Summary: idk im just having fun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 2





	1. History

This, by far, was Elijah’s most BORING class.

It’s not the normal kind of boring, not the kind where you would space and doze off. No, it’s the kind where you’re angry, your head fills with angry thoughts, things to keep you “entertained”.

At least, it was like that for Elijah. He hated this history class.  
Well, not so much the class itself, just the teacher in it. Mrs. Meltzer. In return, she hated him. At least, he thinks she does. She certainly acts like it. God, get that. A woman probably somewhere in her 40’s or 50’s, hates a 16-year-old.

“Figures,”

“What was that, Mr. Pidone?”

Elijah’s orange eyes meet Mrs. Meltzer’s pale blue ones, his ears heating up and pinning down in embarrassment, this is why he didn’t like sitting in the front row of the class, “…ain’t nothin, ma’am.” The woman’s eyes narrowed, and she turned back to the board, going back to her lesson.

Elijah leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes, he’s glad this is his last class. He can’t wait till he can officially change this class. But, Yellow-Spring was heavily known for kids never getting to change their periods. So, he’d have to wait till his Junior year. Even then, he might get stuck right back here.

He needed out of here, so he raised his hand with crossed fingers, “Actually ma’am,” A sly grin crossed his face for a split second at her annoyed sigh, “Yes, Elijah?” “I need to go to the bathroom, can I?”

Mrs. Meltzer shot him a harsh glare, “I don’t know, Pidone,” Elijah mentally prepared himself for that stupid teacher joke, ‘can you?’ so he started to open his mouth, “Can you handle going to the downstairs bathroom, since _someone_ decided to flood the upstairs one?”

That was a very accusing tone.  
That made Elijah mad.

“Are you blamin’ that on me?” He shot back, why was he like this? Couldn’t hold his tongue for a moment… Mrs. Meltzer gave him another harsh stare. “You have ten minutes. Go.” Elijah narrowed his eyes as his face turned into a sneer, he stood from his desk and left the classroom. (He may be mean, but he’s not disrespectful.) Pass in hand, he headed for the stairs. Elijah hated everything about this school, the stupid teachers, the stupid classes. The stupid PEOPLE.

…

Well, maybe not everything. Three of the teachers and classes were cool, the principal was cool. His friends were cool. Quinn was cool…

Quinn..

He liked Quinn; he liked her a lot. She probably didn’t like him, though. He was fine with that; a lot of people didn’t like him. A lot of the people set him up, here, it felt.

The flooded bathroom? Sure, he had made JOKES about it, he had told said jokes to his friends. Well, the people that just started to associate with him, when he first came here. He knows it was Robin who flooded the bathroom. That sneaky fox would do anything for even a sliver of attention, but when it did fall onto Robin, Elijah had not an inch of doubt in his mind that it had been pinned on him.

Whatever, though. It’s cool. He was used to it.

Once he started thinking back to what he was actually doing, he realized he really did have to go to the bathroom, so he quickly scrambled down the last flight of stairs. He always forgot there was a large, large crack in one of the stairs, so he ended up tripping on it this time. Ow.

Now he has a bloody nose, with what felt like a twisted ankle, “FU-” He stopped himself from screaming a profanity. He sighed through his teeth and just pushed on, limping away to the bathroom.

God he wanted to go home. Well… it wasn’t really HOME, home. Esther was a great gal, he liked her. But she was… uh, how could he put this? Really excitable? Energetic? Too much, for Elijah. But it’s not like he had anywhere else to go. He couldn’t go to Quinn’s, her dad didn’t trust him, and honestly he couldn’t blame the man.. He didn’t really know Harper, he liked Jeremy, but… he lived with Nick, and Elijah didn’t like Nick. Nick probably didn’t like him, either.

Well, Elijah couldn’t really say he had nowhere else to go, when he didn’t want to go home, he’d skate into the forest behind the house. Of course, he let Esther know before he ever did, he didn’t want her worrying about him, ever. She didn’t need too.

After dragging himself back to class, Elijah slumped in his seat, his hood now up as his arms were cross, his ankle was throbbing in pain, but he refused to go to one of the nurses. He didn’t want to suffer through the lectures on “how he should be more careful” in the halls and on the stairs. He didn’t like the nurses here, much. They don’t do a lot. They’ll give you a plastic bag of water. WARM water, at that. Their fridge didn’t work much, they’d give you a bag of warm water, and maybe a cracker, if you were lucky.

God forbid you were actually injured or sick, they still wouldn’t do anyth-

“Mr. Pidone.”

“Huh?”

The class started laughing.

“Did you hear me?”

Elijah fought back angry tears at the laughter, and looked down at his desk, “No, ma’am.”

“I asked— if you could tell us about the first End war.”

Elijah’s body tensed, “..um.”

The class laughed again, with soft murmurs now.

“The… uh, the first End war consisted of…of six people..?”  
“And? There were more than just people, Elijah.”

The class was silent now, and Elijah started to feel stressed.

“…There were six people, and, um.. they… uh.. they had..these special weapons…?”

…

The class was laughing again, and Mrs. Meltzer seemed displeased.

“I can tell you didn’t study, Mr. Pidone.”

She turned to the blackboard, and started talking about what ACTUALLY happened. Elijah felt eyes burning into his back, and he caught a glance from Mr. Banzett, Mr. B, as Elijah called him. The teenager felt stupid, so he pulled his hood up further and crossing his arms on the table, let his head hit it as he ignored the rest of the class.

School’s over now, Elijah sent Esther a text he would be late, and wouldn’t be back in the house til around 11 P.M.

Mrs. Dunnett offered for Elijah to stay with her in class and help her out for a bit.

“So, Eli. How was today?”  
“Boring. Bad.”  
“Oh?”  
“Well, this class isn’t bad, or boring. Science isn’t either. Mr. Wilkins, isn’t.”  
“What made today bad, baby?”

Elijah loved Mrs. Dunnett; she was like his second mom. Well.. his _mom_ , his real one wasn’t..

“Mrs. Meltzer.”  
“Why’s that?”  
“She made me look like an idiot. Three times.” Elijah sat down from putting away all the drumsticks, and watched as Mrs. Dunnett shifted through papers, “How?”

Elijah stopped, well… he guessed it wasn’t really Mrs. Melter that made him look stupid, he did it to himself. “…maybe it was me, actually.”

So, Elijah started to explain, everything. His ankle was still hurting, would he even be able to skate home today? “..I just don’t understand why that class is so hard to focus on. I can do every other class just fine!”

“Well, maybe it’s because you’re stressed out,”  
Mrs. Dunnett was perfect for pointing out the obvious.  
“What’s going on at home, sugar?”

…oh.

“…”  
Mrs. Dunnett had that gentle, patient look in her green eyes. “Well..” Elijah looked for a way out, “I have a lot of tests coming up, and I guess I’m stressed out about that.. show we have, for one of the middle schools here soon.”

“I know there’s more to it than that, sweetie.”  
“…her anniversary is coming up.”

It hurt, it hurt Elijah to even mutter the words. He hated it. It’s been seven years, and he still can’t think about her without wanting to cry, violently.

“Oh, sweetpea.” Mrs. Dunnett seemed sad, with him. Silence fell upon the pair, for a while, “Tell me, Eli. What was her favorite thing, ever?”

“…She liked.. orange, she liked tulips. She liked the orange tulips. She loved those flowers, when I brough them to her. She would always put them in a vase.” Elijah fiddled with the strings on his hoodie, clearing his throat, “She still had a vase of fresh ones when she…” He blinked, harshly. He didn’t want to cry, not in front of Mrs. Dunnett.

“It’s okay to cry, sugar.”  
“It makes me feel weak.”  
“Oh, baby…”  
“…can I leave, now?”

Mrs. Dunnett nodded, and Elijah stood up, grabbing his skateboard, but before he could leave the room, Mrs. Dunnett stopped him, “Hey, stop back here tomorrow after school again.” Elijah nodded at her, “Yes, ma’am. See you tomorrow.” “See you tomorrow, Eli.”

Waving to the woman as he left, Elijah headed out of the building.

Shooting Esther a text he would be home late, like originally planned, but differently. He usually just headed straight home, today he wanted to head into the little village, just a few blocks down from his school. He liked that village, he used to live in it, he liked the villagers and they all liked him. That’s where Elijah felt most home.

He mainly missed the café’s killer lattes. So, he figured he’d grab one, it’s only 6 P.M, he doesn’t have anywhere better to be, and he had a little pocket money left over, so he might as well, right? Setting himself up on his skateboard, he headed for Winterivy. Still no response from Esther, even from earlier… well, Elijah didn’t dwell on it too much.

The wind buffeted his hair as he skated to the village, looking to the horizon as golden hour started to fall over the valley. It was always comforting to Elijah, it made him feel alive, especially in the spring, spring’s golden hour made him feel peaceful, at home. He closed his eyes for a bit, letting the cool wind splash over his face, smiling as he went.

“Elijah?” The boy opened his eyes as he made his board come to a stop, looking around, that was a familiar voice. “Elijah!! Yo!!” Upon turning his head over his shoulder, there stood one of his childhood best friends, “REX!”

With excitement, he ran over (as best he could) to the lioness, hugging her with force, the pair eventually fell onto the ground, laughing, “Dude, where you been?! Ever since ya moved out, ya been a stranger here!” Had he really? Well.. he guesses he never really visited here, oops. “Anyway—that’s okay! C’mon, let’s go get something to drink! God it’s so nice to see you again!!” Rex offered him her hand, and dragged him with her. Elijah almost couldn’t grab his board when she pulled him along, he never realized how much he missed this, until he was back…

When Elijah and Rex stepped through the wide doors of The Blue-Duck café (yes, that was the name.), Elijah was hit with multiple smells and emotions all at once, the café didn’t have many people in it, but that was okay. Elijah suspected a lot of them were home, a long day of farming and fishing probably took a lot of energy..

After the pair ordered their drinks, they sat down, Elijah felt warmth welling up in his chest, the smiles he had received after only being here for a few minutes… they remembered him, this was his home. He looked at Rex, who seemed ecstatic as she scribbled something down in her journal.

“So, Eli! How’s big city life workin’ for ya? Was it as great as they all said?”  
“Nah.. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s good, but.. I dunno, not the same as here.”  
“Oh.. Well, how’s your schooling going?”  
Elijah couldn’t help but laugh, a little loudly, “God, that school is nothing but a trash-fire. Only three of those teachers are good.”

Rex seemed a little… disappointed? Discouraged, more like it.  
“Oh.”

Silence fell over the pair, “Well, I guess it’s kind of cool. Like I said, only three of the teachers are good, and make it fun. The principal is also cool. I enjoy him, I guess.” Elijah shrugged, his fingers tapping on the table, tracing over the small marks in the wood.  
“..Big city life just.. ain’t like this village, well, obviously but—you get what I’m saying, right?”  
“Yeah, yeah! ‘Course I do,” Rex looked up from her journal, she looked like she had been doodling something. “Never sounded as appealing as Winterivy is. Did you know that this little old village finally got a new school built?”

That surprised Elijah, “Really?”  
“Yeah! Apparently, that guy who runs the Ender Faire had finally gotten enough money from all those years, and spent it for the village!”  
The drinks were placed on the table. The scents invaded Elijah’s nose, and his chest never ached more. He picked his drink up and started drinking it, ignoring it’s burning hot feeling sliding down his throat.

“An’ thanks to him, the old playground was able to—” Rex stopped suddenly, her hands hitting the table, “OH, MY APOLLO!!” Elijah almost spat out, or choked on his drink, maybe both. As he was coughing, Rex ran over to him and firmly grabbed his shoulders, “You _HAVE_ to see this year’s Ender Faire!! There’s SO MUCH more too it! That old rusty cage?! They cleaned it, and now you can REALLY see that trapped ender man!!”

Elijah blinked as he looked at Rex, he had never been to the Ender Faire, but he had always wanted to go, “It’s.. open? It’s only spring…” “No, no! It’s not open, yet…” Rex seemed sad about that, before perking back up, “But you should see how it’s set up! You have too! Come on, come on!!” She bounced on her toes, and Elijah hated to disappoint her. “Okay! Okay, calm down, you’re gonna spill my drink.” He laughed.

The pair were now skating to the town center, where the Faire was always held, “So, they just let you roam on there, wherever?”

“Well… not necessarily.” Rex shook her head, “…It’s really only open to our eyes at this time of day, cause the workers are usually home, or on their “break”, as they like to call it.”  
“Oh. You’d think they have like…some sort of security. Y’know?”

“Shhh! Don’t jinx it, dude!” Rex shushed him, Elijah rolled his eyes, “Okay, okay, da-” He stopped mid-sentence as his board tripped over something, which sent him flying and landing on his shoulder, “JESUS-” He barked, sitting up on his waist. “YO! Dude, you alright!?” Rex stopped her own board, and the pair looked at what tripped him.

A sign that was now on the ground, “Oh, dude you gotta set that back up.” Elijah looked at Rex, “Why me?” “You were the one who knocked it over!” “It tripped me! It set me up.” “Quick! Someone might come back.”

Elijah groaned, “This was your idea, anyway.” He grumbled, setting the sign up again and stopping to read it, he raised an eyebrow, “‘History always Repeats’? What’s that supposed t’mean?” “Dunno, but hey! Come check out the enderman! We still have some time before the guards come back and—” Elijah looked at Rex, “So there IS authority here?!” “Well, yeah but—”

Rex didn’t get to finish her sentence before something made a noise, a rustling kind of noise. The teens both looked up, and over to the cage Rex was talking about, which was now empty. It wasn’t supposed to be empty, cause it was really a fake enderman. “…where’d it go?” Elijah whispered, “It—” Rex stopped as the rustling got louder, and purple eyes started glowing in the darkening shadows. “…Rex.” “Yes…?” “That enderman was meant to be fake, right?” “…Yes.” “…so if it was fake, but now supposedly gone. Assuming it was ever there, does that make this a real one?” “..uh,”

The pair looked from the bushes, to each other, then back at the bush. The purple started to glow brighter, and started to raise to a whopping SEVEN FEET—The teens both let out startled noises, hopped back on their boards and skated for their lives, a distant growling scream was heard as they zoomed away.

A little while after they had made it back to the gate, Elijah looked at the time, sighing, “I need to start heading back.” “WAIT! Give me your number, at least! I haven’t.. spoke to you, in so long…” Rex looked sheepishly at her feet, and Elijah smiled, “I was planning on that,” The pair shared numbers, and Elijah waved, sending himself off, his ankle still hurt. And tripping on that sign didn’t make it better. “Maybe I can go back tomorrow, I want to see what that was all about… Hey, could take Jeremy or Esther, too. Maybe even Quinn, they like this kind of stuff, and—I’m talking to myself again.” Elijah quieted down, focused on returning home now.

Well, he made it back home, and made it to his forest.  
Yes, his forest. It may not be HIS, his forest, but this is also where he felt most home, so yes. It was his forest, and he loved it as if it were his actual home. If he had the opportunity, he’d build a treehouse and live in it, but he didn’t dare mess with Mother Nature’s property, he was lucky she let him do what he does.

He had a sword, a really good sword, forged only with the best onyx, nice and sharp. He called her ‘Lucky Onyx’, original, he knows. But it didn’t matter, he loved it, and there were always dead trees around he liked to whack, it relieved his stress of the day, usually he had up to twenty hits, maybe more. Depends on how bad the day was—normally, it was rare if it ever went past twenty.

Today, it was twenty-one, approaching twenty-two. He sighed as he then stuck the sword into the soft soil, crossing his arms and settling down on his knees, closing his eyes.

“ _Dear Mother Nature, thank you for allowing me these dead, lifeless trees, in return, thank you for letting me do you a service, for removing them._ ”

Elijah sighed as he stood back up, stretching, this forest really was home, he opened his eyes as he breathed through his nose.

His ears perked at a new sound in this forest, an odd.. wooshing sound, swishing? Looking around, he picked up his sword again, and started to slowly weave through the forest, following the sound, coming to a stop in the dark shadows, a mysterious purple light swallowed a clearing in the forest, this was new… With his sword readied, Elijah stepped into the purple glow, was… was that a nether portal…? Who put it here? He looked over it, noticing a small chest, his eyebrows furrowed as he cautiously went to open it. His hand stopping short of it when that same growling scream rang through the forest, his sword was thrown up as he looked around.

…

HAD IT FOLLOWED HIM HOME?!

Quickly, Elijah ran away from the portal, grabbing his skateboard as he ran out of the forest and barreled out of the twigs and leaves of the bushes, landing harshly on the sidewalk on his shoulder, scrambling up and running into the house. Which was empty, too empty.

Walking into the kitchen after shutting all the lights down low, he noticed a not on the fridge,

‘ _Elijah, I’m going to be out of town for a little bit. Make sure you take good care of yourself, and text me if you need anything!_

 _\- Esther._ ’

Oh, that’s great. No wonder she didn’t answer him, Elijah sighed as he slowly peeked out the window, looking around for the stray enderman that had followed him. He saw nothing, sighing again, he planted himself on the floor, skateboard and sword both discarded at either side. He pinched the bridge of his nose, and texted one of his friends.

_  
“King, you’re never gonna believe this.”_


	2. Break

“It’s okay to break, you know.”

The words were uttered in the pale moonlight, soft as a summer breeze. A quiet inhale and sigh through the nose, “I’d never judge you.”

“I’m not going to break.” Glassy orange eyes avoiding the gaze beside him, staring up at the starry sky from his position in the grass; shifting as it poked and tickled the back of his neck. “It’s weak. I’m not weak.”

The boy beside him shifted, laying down beside him as he stared up into the endless starry void with his friend, “Who says it’s weak?”  
“Everyone.”  
“So, what?”

“So, I won’t. Cause I’m not weak.”

“Just because someone says it’s weak, doesn’t make it true.” The small wolf looked over to his friend, the bat’s eyes staring up into the stars, “That’s like sayin... red is blue.”  
“It’s not.”  
“Exactly.”

“...” A silence befalls them, the only noise they have in the moment is the soft chirping of crickets. The sound of the little stream, some ways off in the forest. A soft pale glow from the house’s porch light, just a few steps away.

A sniffle.  
“You can break, and that’s okay.”  
The shifting of clothes in the grass.  
“I’m here to help you,”  
Muffled sobbing into the shoulder of a jacket.  
“And I’ll help put you together again.”


	3. I like you a lot

Elijah didn’t like having crushes on people—he’d either have too many or too little. And almost nothing good for him ever came out of them. Every girl he’s ever liked had rejected him because;

He’s too thin.  
He’s too hurt.  
He’s too dark-minded.  
He’s too emo.  
He’s too sad.  
He’s too angry.  
He’s too much.  
He’s too little.

He’s too Elijah.

Elijah couldn’t blame them- he’d reject himself too, if he were in their place. So, it’s fine.

But every guy Elijah’s liked, well.. sometimes he’d get let down gently. Other times—let’s just say sometimes he’d be sent home quietly with a new bloody nose or black eye.

Elijah figured out staying quiet on his feelings were so much easier than letting people in.  
Every time he’s found himself head over heels for a close friend- or anytime he’s found himself daydreaming about them—and then expressing how he felt to them; he’d lose them. He’d lose them, and they’d want nothing more to do with him. It’s hard to ignore the whispers around him.

So when the same feelings started to bubble in his chest for someone very certain- King, his best friend since his freshman year, the one who he always found himself talking to- talking about- thinking about at the end of the day—he was afraid. He didn’t want to lose King- what would they say? They probably wouldn’t even like him in that way, they’re best friends and that’s all they should be—

“Eli? Elijah, you here with me?”  
“Huh?”  
“You’re zoning on me, buddy.”

How long had the pair been sitting on Elijah’s bed? What time was it? What? How? Where?

“Eli—you’re shaking.” Elijah’s eyes blinked open, noticing the shake in his chest and his arms. “What’s going on?”

Elijah shook his head, closing his eyes again, how was he supposed to explain this without losing King? God he didn’t want to lose King—they meant too much to him. A hand on his shoulder jostled him back to reality, and King’s voice was there but it was so far away but why did it sound like it was right in front of him like he could reach out and grab the noise? And- and- and-  
“ELIJAH! Breathe!” Elijah inhaled harshly through his nose, choking it back out through his teeth. “What’s wrong, dude?”

Rip it off. Like a band-aid—the quicker you rip it off the less it hurts and the quicker it’s over with.

“King...” The teen looked at Elijah when he uttered their name—Elijah allowed tears to bubble in his eyes; “I think I like you. A lot.” King was quiet, and Elijah took his chance, “As in, I like you a lot and I really want to be with you but I don’t know how to say this to you in any other way without it being uncomfortable and awkward and-“ Elijah kept talking. King never stopped him, but they did remove their hand from his shoulder.  
When Elijah finally stopped, he didn’t look at King’s face—too afraid that if he looked he would start crying harder than he was and King would walk out of his life.

“Elijah? Is.. Is that true?”  
Elijah bit his tongue from letting out a sob and nodded.  
Elijah was wrapped in King’s arms, “I shouldn’t have said any of that—I’m sorry. I’m really s-” “Stop.” Elijah breathed in through his nose, and out through his teeth. He really shouldn’t have said that cause now King’s never gonna look at him the same and it’s all gonna be over and Elijah’s gonna have to drop out and and and-  
“Just breathe, Elijah. I’m not going anywhere- I’m not gonna walk away.” How much of that did Elijah say? “H—how m—mu—much?” “All of it.”  
“I’m just glad you told me. I… I wanna think on it for a bit, but, I’m not gonna walk out of your life.” King’s arms were strong- and they held Elijah- they were holding him, they were holding him.. His own hand harshly rubbed his eyes. “Focus on breathing, please, and not passing out. I don’t think I’d be able to explain that well enough to Esther.” King tried to joke with him.  
And Elijah laughed a little bit.

Maybe he’s okay, today.


End file.
